Experts fear debate over sharia a political ploy

Experts fear debate over sharia a political ploy

Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Of the contentious issues remaining as regards the amendment
of the 1945 Constitution, the incorporation of sharia stands out
as defining the divide between the nationalist and Islamic
parties.

As the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) wraps up its four-
year-long amendment process during the Annual Session, the debate
continues among legislators over the incorporation of sharia into
the Constitution.

Outside the MPR, demonstrators hit the streets of Jakarta,
Bandung in West Java and Makassar in South Sulawesi as thousands
demanded that the MPR adopt a clause calling for the imposition
of sharia.

Experts, however, have voiced concerns that the debate in the
MPR has more to do with seeking support from Muslim
fundamentalists rather than cleansing the country of its moral
decay.

"I fear it's all a farce based upon the short-term interests
of certain political parties," said historian Anhar Gonggong on
Monday.

He said he doubted that the parties were actually thinking of
implementing sharia as they knew the majority of Muslims here
opposed the idea.

But with some of their constituents demanding the imposition
of sharia, Muslim-based parties had their image to think about if
they sided with their nationalist peers in promoting a more
secular version of Islam here, political analysts have said.

Among the Muslim-based parties is the United Development Party
(PPP), whose chairman Hamzah Haz has been criticized for his
overtures to Islamic hard-liners while acting as the country's
Vice President.

The PPP and the Crescent Star Party (PBB) insist on adding the
last phrase of an earlier version of Article 29 of the
Constitution that called on Muslims to comply with sharia.

In 1945, politicians dropped the phrase following complaints
from the predominately Christian eastern parts of Indonesia, and
as they tried to conform to the ideal of a pluralistic society.

"Our founding fathers reached a consensus, and opening that
debate again is a step backward," Anhar said.

He dismissed the arguments which suggested that imposing
sharia would improve the nation's morality, saying that morality
should start with the political elite.

Anhar noted that many Muslims practiced their religious duties
by adhering to sharia privately. "Islam in Indonesia is working
without sharia (being imposed by the state)," he said.

Political analyst and member of the General Elections
Commission Chusnul Mari'yah said that the concept of sharia that
its backers were campaigning for lacked clarity.

Under a strict interpretation, sharia requires stoning for
adultery and hand amputations for thieves. Very few countries
have adopted this version of sharia with the exceptions being
found in the Middle East.

Among Southeast Asian countries the idea is alien, although
calls for imposing strict Islamic law also exist in Malaysia.

Despite the polemic in the MPR, Chusnul added, public
discussion of the issue was rare.

She said political parties fell short of explaining how to
implement sharia in a pluralistic society such as Indonesia. "Is
sharia a pretense for patriarchy to take over and to force women
back into the home?"

Demands for the sharia surfaced when the constitutional
amendment process began in 1999. But the issue has largely
remained the concern of Islamic fundamentalists and lacks the
support of the country's two largest Muslim organizations --
Nadhlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah.

Indonesia's only example of a working sharia arrangement is
found in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province. It has been law in
the country's westernmost province since January as part of a
special autonomy package that includes promoting the practice of
Islam.

"Not much has changed though," said Teungku H. Imam Suja, who
chairs the Muhammadiyah branch in Aceh, commenting on the locals'
everyday lives following the imposition of sharia.

After six months under sharia, he said, the province lacked
the bylaws and forces needed to ensure its implementation.

The conflict between the armed separatist Free Aceh Movement
(GAM) and the Indonesian state that has raged since 1976 had
seriously undermined law and order, and put into question the
effectiveness of the implementation of Islamic law.

Imam expressed concern that the government's sole intention in
allowing the implementation of sharia was to draw local support
away from GAM.

"We don't want sharia that is just a political vehicle," he
said.